Synopsis

New 19 track retrospective featuring hits, 12' mixes, key album tracks, B-sides and other rarities, some ofwhich are appearing on CD for the first time or are now ex- clusively available on this set with the deletion of Connoisseur's 'best of'. CD debuts: 'Our Lips Are Sealed' (Urdu Version) & 'The Alibi' (12' Extended Version). Exclusives: 'Summertime' (Extended 12' Mix), 'Funrama Theme' (Extended 12' Mix) & 'The Telephone Always Rings' (12' Extended Mix). Other 14: 'Summer Of '82' (B-side), 'The Lunacy Legacy', 'Tunnel Of Love' (hit), 'We're Having All The Fun', etc.

CD Reviews

Redundant if you have the 2 albums but...

Thomas Baldwin | Upland, California 90210 | 06/16/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"...you get "The Summer of '82" which is in my Fun Boy top three. This sounds like Vince Clarke almost, its the most synthetic Fun Boy song by far. It has a very cool synth horn break that you'll love. Very catchy, I wonder why it was tacked on the B side of "Summertime", its a far stronger song.You also The Alibi (you'll get it stuck in your head, very catchy, though the extended 12 inch remix on the CD does drag a bit towards the last half), the flip side of "The Telephone Always Rings Twice", another version of the Funrama theme, the single only cover of George Gershwins "Summertime"(It's good but it could have been done better, the production is a little lacking), and an excellent version of "The Lunatics..." done acapella (save for a few very minor effects way in the background) called "The Lunacy Legacy". Oh, I forgot about the "Urdu" version of "Our Lips..." which is scary! Horrible! I don't know why they would leave out the 7 inch single mix for this "best-of". Sadly left off, and never pressed on CD is the lost Bside "?", yes question mark, which was on the Our Lips... 7 and 12 inch... which I'd kill to get.Other then that you're getting about %66 of each Fun Boy album, its a bit hard to have a best-of for a band that only did 2 albums... This is more for a serious Fun Boy/Terry Hall fan, just for the odds and ends that were thoughtfully put on. Is it going to take another compilation for "?" to see the light of day? The Summer of '82 and The Lunacy Legacy are big highlights, as is the pic of Terrys hair on the front cover, seriously, I dream about having hair that perfect!"

Poor version of "our lips are sealed"

C. Hayes | Galway, Ireland | 08/14/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I think "our lips are sealed" is one of the best songs Terry Hall has written and one of the best pop songs of the eighties. Anyone buying this CD should be warned that the URDU version of the song included here bears no resemblance to the original single version. It is a very poor substitute for the original track. I would suggest buying the original Fun Boy Three CDs from which this compilation is taken, all of which are available at budget prices anyway."

Inspired

krista | Ucluelet, BC, Canada | 06/02/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Fun Boy Three are one of the lost gems of early 80's pop, several creative steps to the side and at an oblique tangent from The Specials, from whence they came. They gave the world quirky, innovative slices of song, replete with meaningful lyrics (on many occasions), distinct even then, at a time when the top 40 in Britain was noteable for many unique shades of invention lurking amongst the crud (look at the creativly emaciated state of the charts these days and compare). As children we'd race home to listen to the Radio 1 top 40 when it came out on a Sunday evening, and we'd root for our favourite songs, waiting with baited breath to see how far our they had edged up the charts. The Fun Boy Three rarely got as high on the charts as I hoped, but were nevertheless darned good, and it is a joy to hear old favourites again, such as "The Lunatics (Have Taken Over The Asylum)", which still sounds fresh today, to my ears, (I remember at the time recieving a look of utter disgust from my sister and her best friend, when I told them I thought "Lunatics" was really good, and come to think of it, I can't recall any of my peers liking the group much, but who cares?).There are several extended or alternative versions of songs here, which certainly add to the value of the cd as a whole, and for sure the b-sides and album tracks are not merely filler, to make up for the lack of a-sides (the Fun Boy Three only released 7 singles). The "lost" single, "The More I See (The Less I Believe)", their only single that failed to breach the top 40 in Britain, is a distinct highlight on the collection, and the 12" versions of "Summertime", "The Telephone Always Rings" and "The Alibi" are all lots of fun.This collection would perhaps benefit from having the regular version of "Our Lips Are Sealed" alongside the Urdu version, and fuller liner notes would have been good too, so that we could learn which tracks come from where, but otherwise this is a really great cd.This album inspires me to take a closer look at Terry Hall's later works with The Colourfield, and beyond."